Waiver Information

The Phase II/V Regulations became effective on January 1, 1993. These regulations contain monitoring requirements and maximum contaminant levels for 32 synthetic organic chemicals (SOCs) including pesticides, 13 volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), 10 inorganic chemicals (IOCs), asbestos, nitrate/nitrite, and numerous unregulated chemicals. Treatment techniques are provided for two chemicals-epichlorohydrin and acrylamide. All South Dakota PWS will be affected by these regulations in some way. Waivers are available to water systems to reduce or eliminate the number of samples a system must take. They are available for IOCs, VOCs, asbestos, and SOCs.

If a system does not apply for a waiver for a particular source, the source will have to be monitored at the frequency prescribed in the regulations for sources without waivers. Any source that is used for more than four months per year must meet the all the monitoring requirements. Any sources used for less than four months per year must meet the nitrate and nitrite monitoring requirements only. Systems that are served by other public water systems must meet the Phase II/V monitoring requirements for asbestos. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will not ask for nor complete your waiver forms. The decision to apply for a waiver is completely the responsibility of each water system. DENR will issue statewide waivers for cyanide and dioxin. These waivers will cover all water systems with a few exceptions. The systems that are exceptions will be notified with possible actions they may take.

Some waivers require that the water system submit copies of their previous chemical sampling. Systems are required by regulation to keep all chemical analyses for ten years. The Phase II/V Regulations also provided for a standard monitoring framework consisting of nine year compliance cycles made up of three year compliance periods. The current compliance cycle started in 2011 and will end in 2019. This compliance cycle is made up of compliance periods running from 2011-2013, 2014-2016, and 2017-2019.

It is suggested that a system work on their asbestos and IOC waivers first. These waivers can be easily completed with a review of your system's records and past monitoring results. The VOC and SOC waivers will require more effort as possible sources of contamination will need to be located on topographical maps.

You can submit each waiver application separately.

SOC/VOC Waivers

All waivers for Synthetic Organic Chemicals (SOC) will expire on December 31, 2013. There are also newer water systems that have never obtained waivers to reduce or eliminate certain drinking water monitoring.

The Black Hills Hydrology Study investigated the relationships between all the water sources in the Black Hills, both groundwater and surface water. It has been found that the Hills contain a vast network of sources where water can be transported from watershed to watershed and that water can move very quickly at times from stream to well. It has been found that wells that were once thought to be not vulnerable to surface water contamination are, indeed, vulnerable. An example of this new found vulnerability was shown by US Geological Survey tests where dye placed in a stream appeared in wells anywhere from six hours to 156 days after its release. If dye can be found in a deep well in a relatively short time, a pesticide washed into a stream could then also appear in a well.

The DENR Groundwater Program has developed Source Water Assessments (SWA) for all public water systems. These were required under the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996. These assessments were to locate contamination sites within each source’s watershed. DENR developed a series of zone of influence for each source. Zone “A” consisted of the recharge area for each well and all areas within ¼ of a mile from any perennial streams. Zone “B” then consisted of the rest of the watershed for that source. These assessments have been completed and maps depicting areas that influence your water sources were furnished to all water systems.

Based on information gathered during the Black Hills Hydrology Study and information generated by the SWA, water systems within the Black Hills are no longer eligible for SOC “susceptibility” waivers or VOC waivers. It may be possible to acquire an SOC “use” waiver. Previous “use” waivers were based on SOC use within one mile of a water source. In order to obtain an SOC “use” waiver, all pesticide use within your Zone “A” as depicted on your SWA map must be determined and denoted on your SWA map. It should be noted that the SWA maps (as sent by DENR) cannot be considered as a final determination of all possible contaminations sites. The contamination sites noted on the maps were ones that came from DENR databases. One category of sites known not to be contained on the maps is agricultural fields.

If a waiver is not obtained, monitoring must be done. Laboratory costs for SOC/VOC analysis can be reduced by “compositing” samples with other water systems. “Compositing” of samples consists of up to five entry points submitting samples to a lab together. The lab then takes a portion of each sample and mixes them prior to the analysis. If the lab result for the composited sample is “no detect”, each of the individual samples is considered to have a result of “no detect”. If a chemical is detected, each of the samples making up the combined sampled must be individually analyzed. For a composited sample, there is only one lab analysis; therefore, the lab cost to each entry point is only one-fifth of the cost if the sample was analyzed by itself. It is up to the water systems to organize themselves to composite samples.

To check on your SOC and VOC waivers and monitoring status click on the following: